"A wise and frugal government which shall restrain menfrom injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." (Thomas Jefferson)

Thursday, February 16, 2012

The only model this demonstrates is how Democratic donors got favorable treatment from the Obama administration. The Post doesn’t mention that Obama was an early investor in a LightSquared predecessor, or how investors had access to the White House, nor how the White House tried to pressure witnesses to Congress to modify testimony favorably toward LightSquared. None of the reports mention that the FCC could have easily bench-tested this a year ago and found out exactly what we know now, which would have saved LightSquared and taxpayers a lot of time and money. Grassley’s investigation wants to get to the bottom of all these questions, and so far Genachowski has been stonewalling to prevent it.

How much taxpayer money has been wasted on Obama boondoggles for his big donors?

The Federal Communications Commission moved on Tuesday to block LightSquared’s planned nationwide wireless network over concerns that it cannot be fixed to coexist with global positioning systems.

The FCC is the final word on whether LightSquared can proceed, unless the company decides to take the issue to court.

The FCC’s decision was prompted by the conclusions of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which advises the president on telecom issues and formally concluded earlier Tuesday evening that LightSquared’s proposed wireless should not go forward.

The quick reaction seemed to catch LightSquared off guard. Just an hour before the FCC announced its decision, a LightSquared spokesman blasted the NTIA conclusion and said the company “fully expects the [FCC] to recognize LightSquared’s legal rights to build its $14 billion, privately financed network.”

The decision marks a colossal fall from grace for the wireless startup, which has waged a bitter fight over the network for more than a year. LightSquared wants to build a nationwide wholesale wireless network based on satellites and ground transmitters.

LightSquared’s innovative use of spectrum fit nicely with FCC goals to use more spectrum for wireless communication. In its statement on Tuesday the agency said that LightSquared’s plan offered “the potential to unleash new spectrum for mobile broadband and enhance competition.”
The company planned to operate on spectrum near that used by GPS. When tests showed that LightSquared’s network would overpower GPS transmissions, a coalition of GPS manufacturers and users organized to block the plan.

Federal agencies like the Defense and Transportation departments, which rely on GPS, began to voice their concerns and soon Congress was holding hearings.

The FCC said it will not lift the restrictions on LightSquared’s plan. The commission also proposed to end earlier FCC orders that gave LightSquared authority to build some parts of its network.

“Consequently, the Commission will not lift the prohibition on LightSquared," it added. "A public notice seeking comment on NTIA’s conclusions and on these proposals will be released tomorrow.”

The NTIA has been analyzing tests for months, and on Tuesday the agency told the Federal Communications Commission that it sees no way for LightSquared’s plans to move forward.

“Based on NTIA’s independent evaluation of the testing and analysis performed over the last several months, we conclude that LightSquared’s proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time,” NTIA administrator Lawrence Strickling wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

The FCC did throw LightSquared a small bone. LightSquared argued that the interference problems were caused by GPS devices that weren’t designed correctly. In its statement the commission said efforts should be made to fix such receivers so that more spectrum can be used.

“This proceeding has revealed challenges to maximizing the opportunities of mobile broadband for our economy,” the FCC said in the statement. “There are very substantial costs to our economy and to consumers of preventing the use of this and other spectrum for mobile broadband. Congress, the FCC, other federal agencies, and private sector stakeholders must work together in a concerted effort to reduce regulatory barriers and free up spectrum for mobile broadband.”

The Washington Post notes that the LSQ venture started out as a poster child for the Obama administration’s desire for broadband expansion, and turned into a potential exhibit for their crony capitalism instead:

It was a model project — a privately funded business that would carry out Genachowski’s plans to create more competition to giants AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

But the satellite venture struggled with financing as regulatory scrutiny of the network grew. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) asked if the FCC was paying special favors to the company and asked for all correspondence between officials and the firm. Genachowski’s office refused, saying Grassley’s Judiciary Subcommittee doesn’t oversee the FCC.

Meanwhile, government aviation and military officials sounded alarms that LightSquared’s network would interfere with everything from landing gear to weather prediction systems. The FAA predicted multiple deaths could occur if the network was launched.

How many more of these Obama pet projects are floating around wasting taxpayer dollars? Time to send Obama packing along with his pet projects!

According to Think Progress, “NRA: Practice Range” is billed as a “network of news, laws, facts, knowledge, safety tips, educational materials and online resource” for the organization.The National Rifle Association released a new app on Sunday that includes a gun range equipped with coffin-shaped targets, and the option for players to simulate using a military-grade sniper rifle.

The app includes what it calls “9 true to life firearms,” and allows players to download an MK-11 sniper rifle setting for 99 cents. The rifle can shoot 750 rounds per minute.

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Dems/GOP Fighting -- Will they Finally Work Together for the Country? Will replace this image when they do. (11/07/2012)

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"We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this." President Barack Obama, Newtown, CT, 12/16/2012

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"I don't think that the way to correct a spin from the left is to try to impart a spin from the right.... [A]n information flow distorted from the right would be just as much a disservice as distortion from the left. What we really should be after... is accurate information. And I don't see what any conservative or anybody else for that matter has to fear from accurate information." M. Stanton Evans

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Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY)

“For heaven’s sake, you have Grover Norquist wandering the earth in his white robes saying that if you raise taxes one penny, he’ll defeat you,” he told CNN back in May. “He can’t murder you. He can’t burn your house. The only thing he can do to you, as an elected official, is defeat you for reelection. And if that means more to you than your country when we need patriots to come out in a situation when we’re in extremity, you shouldn’t even be in Congress.”

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John Stuart Mill was a 19th century political philosopher:

"I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it." John Stuart Mill.